10 Expensive Restorations

As a testament to the belief that if you don't get it right the first time you should keep trying, the Leaning Tower of Pisa has undergone many repairs and renovations designed to keep it standing despite a noticeable, possibly dangerous and apparently popular tilt. The latest effort cost upwards of 25 million dollars, and there's no end in sight. If you think this is madness, the 800-year old Romanesque tower is a popular tourist attraction, which provides some real impetus to keep it from falling over completely [source: IcivilEngineer].

Although there's a determined group of supporters who believe that the tower was designed to tilt on purpose, the culprit is probably a poorly constructed foundation that fails to adequately support the tower on its base of soft clay.

While we're looking up, let's learn a few things about the International Space Station.

Leaning Tower Repairs

Become an expert on the Leaning Tower by exploring this list of over a dozen repairs and updates undertaken over the years [source: PBS].